China-ASEAN expo opens, ministers mull food, product safety issues

China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Sunday opened a four-day expo, with one of the main focuses this year being food safety and product quality.

The annual China-ASEAN Expo began in Nanning, the capital of southern China's Guangxi Autonomous Region, where it is being held for the fourth consecutive year.

Amid the expo, China and the 10-member ASEAN on Sunday held their first ministerial meeting on food safety and product quality after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao floated the idea in January at a China-ASEAN summit in the Philippines.

Also being held alongside the expo is the China-ASEAN Business & Investment Summit.

The discovery of chemical residues and banned substances in Chinese exports ranging from toothpaste to toys has raised concern internationally, including in ASEAN.

But China's top quality supervisor Li Changjiang told Kyodo News that China has been working hard to ensure the safety of its food and manufactured products.

''Regarding the United States recalls of toys made in China, most of the toys involved design faults that are not the responsibility of the manufacturers,'' said Li, minister of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

''For toys found to have excessive lead content in paint, we have tightened control and make sure no lead is being added in the paint, and all toys are made according to the importing countries' safety standards,'' he said.

China and ASEAN plan to issue a joint statement on food safety on Monday, in which they are expected to pledge swift notification when problems arise.

In addition, a memorandum of understanding between China and ASEAN on inspection and quarantine cooperation is set to be signed during the next ASEAN-China summit in November 2007 in Singapore.

The main theme of this year's event in Nanning, however, is logistics and ports, according to organizers.

China and each ASEAN country are showcasing a port city, with China featuring Tianjin City while ASEAN member Cambodia, for example, is promoting Sihanoukville deep-sea port.

The China-ASEAN Port Development and Cooperation Forum is being held here, while the expo itself is being participated in by investors and operators of international piers, large shipping companies, logistics enterprises and shipbuilding & repairing companies, harbor logistics information technology enterprises, and harbor equipment manufacturers.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Initiated by the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in 2004, the China-ASEAN Expo, or CAEXPO, is considered one of the four major expos in China.

Statistics from the previous expo in 2006 recorded $1.27 billion worth of trade deals, a 10.2 percent increase from the second expo the year before, according to ASEAN officials.

China is currently ASEAN's fourth largest trading partner -- after the United States, the European Union and Japan -- with the trade volume in 2006 at approximately $140 billion.

Foreign direct investment flows from China to ASEAN reached $937 million in 2006.